The Laughing God

What's a little insanity between friends?

(AKA - The Story Thus Far)

The Setting

The setting is a peaceful place called Greenleaf Village. While the majority of the population is halfling, there is also a dwarven district and a handful of gnomes, humans, and half-elves that live here. The reason for the small population of with little variety of race is Greenleaf is fairly cut off. To the south of Greenleaf lies the Black Skull Mountains, home to the Black Skull Orcs. While there is the great Gnomish city of Ak’Anon nestled in the mountains, as well as a dwarven mine, citizens of Greenleaf tend not to venture south in fear of orc attacks. To the east of the city is the Rathmire Marsh. This place is not only dangerous due to the creatures (and sometimes undead) that reside within, but also because some of the areas of the marsh are said to be toxic. To the North is the Sanshir Forest. It used to be one of the safer places to travel but has become more dangerous as of late. Between the Sanshir Forest and the Rathemire Marsh lies the Bloodfell River where Greenleaf Village gets the majority of its trade. The river empties out into a small lake that runs along th eastern border of Greenleaf between the village and the Rathemire. Finally to the west is the Therassian Sea, there is a dock here but it has not been used in quite some time and is growing increasingly out of repair.

The Story

The Story begins, simply enough, with two great heroes. Well, OK, one great hero and one halfling more known for getting into trouble than helping fix it. These two heroes were sent out on a quest by Father Marthing, the priest of the Temple of Yondolla, to retrieve a report. Deep in the forest there lived a scout named Jamaili Greenthorn with his wife Cici Greenthorn. They would keep an eye on the going ons of the forest and report twice a month or if anything strange was happening. Well, the report was late AND strange things were happening. The usually peaceful Avians had grown increasingly belligerent and Jamaili Greenthorn’s camp was quite near where they lived.

So off they went, and arrived at Jamaili Greenthorn’s camp to find both him and his wife who had not left for town to give their reports because they had been too busy watching the Avians, their curious new leader, and the ritual they had been preparing for several days. With the aid of Cici Greenthorn and Jamaili GreenthornBradlin Underbrush and Caranthir Telrunya, our inteprid heroes, were able to put a stop to the ritual and free the orc the avians had captured as a sacrifice. Although unable to speak common, Bradlin Underbrush had picked up some Orcish and was able to communicate with Blokathia. After rescuing her the three of them became quick friends despite Caranthir Telrunya’s initial reservations of journeying with an orc. Unable to bring her into town, however, Father Marthing gave them a cabin out along the path between Greenleaf and Jamaili Greenthorn’s.

They went on several (mis)adventures together until Bradlin Underbrush managed to obtain the ire of a dwarf named Maurenta Meadia, and her two cousins Coalho, and Wygar. While Bradlin Underbrush hid in the forest a woman came into the area of forest he was in and with a few words of power was able to knock down all the trees around her to create a small clearing in the forest. Bradlin Underbrush watched in fear as the woman cast a spell to take on the guise of a deformed avian… the odd new leader of the Avians! Shortly after her transformation she was joined by several other Avians who began digging. Unfortunately the noise of the falling trees caught the attention of the three dwarves who had chased Bradlin Underbrush into the forest. As they entered the clearing, however, the once-human Avian turned on them and incinerated all three of them with a fireball before animating them as her servants.

After the Avians left they left behind of one of the reanimated dwarves as a guard. Although the dwarf appeared very dangerous Bradlin Underbrush was able to get close enough to see that they had uncovered some kind of seal in the ground that had the face of a demon upon it. Bradlin Underbrush , with a heavy heart, returned to Greenleaf to relay the news to Father Marthing. While researching what it could be, Bradlin Underbrush found a book with an engraving on the cover that matched that of the seal. The book, however, was written in a language that noone in Greenleaf Village could read… Demonic. So, hoping to find answers, Bradlin Underbrush, Caranthir Telrunya, and Blokathia left Greenleaf village and went south towards Ak’Anon looking for a scholar who could read Demonic. Will they find help in time?